Two-compartment package



Sept. 19, 1967 T. E. PIAZZE 3,342,324

TWO- COMPARTMENT PACKAGE Filed March 18, 1966 INVENTOR THOMAS E. PIAZZE 7720401 Wait, M 2 @WJ ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,342,324 TWO-COMPARTMENT PACKAGE Thomas E. Piazza, Mount Vernon, Ohio, assignor to Continental Can Company, lino, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 18, 1966, Ser. No. 535,412 17 Claims. (Cl. 206-47) This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in packages or containers, and more particularly relates to a novel two-compartment package particularly adapted for the shipment and mixing of two separate materials which are to be united or admixed when used.

There are many items which are initially packaged as two separate materials and are then combined when used. These include foodstuffs, cooling mixtures, heating mixtures, adhesives, etc. Normally these materials are packaged either in two separate packages or within a single container but in two independent compartments. It is necessary to open the two packages or compartments and to mix the two components. Since the two components of the article in question must be mixed together, it is highly desirable that the components be packaged in a container wherein the two components are within the same container, the container including an inner pouch and an outer pouch, and the inner pouch being so constructed that the inner pouch may be broken and the components admixed within the outer pouch prior to subsequent dispensing from the later. However, heretofore the rupture of the inner pouch without a like rupture of the outer pouch has presented many problems and attempts have been made to solve these problems in a variety of different ways.

For example, the inner pouches of conventional twocompartment packages are sometimes deeply scored to facilitate the rupturing of the inner pouch prior to the rupturing of the outer pouch upon manual squeezing of the entire package. It is also possible to weaken the inner pouch relative to the outer pouch by, for example, constructing the inner pouch from thinner or weaker material as compared to the material of the outer pouch. However, in most cases, it is relatively difficult to score or otherwise weaken an inner pouch with the assurance that the inner pouch will, in fact, rupture as desired.

It is, therefore, an important object of this invention to provide a novel package which overcomes the above and numerous other disadvantages of conventional two-compartment packages by providing a package which includes an inner pouch and an outer pouch adapted to contain two separate materials which may be combined to produce a desired mixture or compound, the inner pouch being constructed from rupturable material whereby upon the application of forces to the outer pouch the forces are transmitted through the material in the outer pouch and act against the inner pouch to rupture the same, and the inner pouch including means for localizing the transmitted forces to a particular portion of the inner pouch whereby the inner pouch will rupture at the particular portion under the influence of the transmitted forces while the outer pouch remains Whole.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel package which includes an outer pouch and an inner pouch, the inner pouch being positioned within the outer pouch and being constructed from rupturable material whereby upon the application of forces to the outer pouch the forces are transmitted through material packaged in the outer pouch and act against the inner pouch to rupture the same incident to material admixing, the inner pouch including means for localizing the transmitted forces to a particular portion of the inner pouch whereby the inner pouch will rupture at the particular portion in the absence ice of rupturing of the outer pouch, the rupturable material of the inner pouch being of a predetermined strength, the force localizing means being defined by a bond between wall portions of the inner pouch and the bond strength of the bond being greater than the predetermined strength of the rupturable material of the inner pouch whereby the latter will rupture to the exclusion of the former under the influence of the transmitted forces.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a novel package of the type immediately above described in which the localizing means is defined by a heat sealed portion of the inner pouch and the heat sealed portion is positioned adjacent an edge of the inner pouch and diminishes in size away from the edge and terminates in a generally abrupt apex portion.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel package of the type immediately above described in which the particular configuration of the apex portion can be varied to increase or decrease the forces required to rupture the inner pouch.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawing:

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a top perspective view of a novel twocompartment package constructed in accordance with this invention with a portion thereof removed for clarity, and illustrates an inner pouch located within an outer pouch of the package.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the inner pouch of the package prior to being filled with a product and sealed, and illustrates means in the form of a heat seal for localizing forces transmitted to the inner pouch by the application of manual pressure to the outer pouch for rupturing the inner pouch and admixing the material therein with material of the outer pouch.

FIGURE 3 is a highly enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally along line 33 of FIGURE 1, and illustrates a bond formed between wall portions of the inner pouch at the heat sealed area thereof.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the package taken generally along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1 and illustrates the localization of forces which cause the rupture of the inner pouch at the heat seal upon the application of manual pressure to the outer pouch.

FIGURE 5 is a highly enlarged fragmentary top plan view of an edge of another inner pouch of this invention, and illustrates a heat seal for localizing forces for rupturing the inner pouch and a rounded apex of the heat seal for varying the forces necessary to rupture the inner pouch.

FIGURE 6 is a highly diagrammatic view of another inner pouch of this invention, and illustrates heat seal means at a heat sealed end portion of the inner pouch for localizing forces in much the same manner as the comparable heat seal of FIGURES 1 through 4 of the drawing.

FIGURE 7 is another highly diagrammatic view of an inner pouch of this invention, and illustrates a pair of opposed heat seals, either of which will effect the rupture of the inner pouch in the manner heretofore described.

Referring to the drawing in particular, the entire twocompartment package is generally referred to by the numeral 10, and includes a two-cornpartment container defined by an outer pouch 12 and an inner pouch 13.

The inner pouch 13 (FIGURE 2) is formed of a single sheet of plastic material which is folded along a fold line 14- to define two generally opposed walls 15, 16. The inner pouch 13 is preferably constructed from plastic, heatsealable material which is impervious to liquids, gases and/or solids depending upon the products which are packaged in the pouches 12, 13, as will be more fully apparent hereafter. The inner pouch 13 is preferably constructed from plastic material but can be constructed from generally any type material so long as it is capable of being ruptured and, if not constructed from heat sealable material, is provided with a coating of heat scalable material upon those surfaces of the walls 15, 16 in opposed relationship to each other.

After the material of the inner pouch 13 has been folded along the fold line 14 side edge portions 17, 13 of the pouch are heat sealed closed by conventional heat sealers (not shown) to form heat sealed seams 20, 21 respectively. The inner pouch 13 is thereby provided with a closed lower end portion, generally designated by the reference numeral 22, and an open upper end portion, generally designated by the reference numeral 23, the latter end portion defining a mouth (unnumbered) through which a product is subsequently packaged into the pouch 13.

The lower end portion 22 of the inner pouch 13 is provided with means, generally designated by the reference numeral 25, for localizing forces which are transmitted to the inner pouch 13 upon the manual squeezing of the outer pouch 12 to assure the rupture of the inner pouch 13 in the area of the localizing means 25. The localizing means 25 is a generally triangular-shaped heat seal 26 which diminishes in size in a direction toward the upper edge portion 23 and terminates in an abrupt relatively sharp apex portion 27. The heat seal 26 is formed by a conventional heat sealing apparatus (not shown) which fuses together opposed wall portions 30, 31 (FIGURE 3) by a bond 32 which is appreciably stronger than the unsealed portions of the inner pouch 13.

After the seals 20, 21 and 26 have been formed in the sheet material to form the open mouth 23, a material or component 35 is introduced through the open mouth 23 after which the latter is closed by, for example, a heat seal 36 (FIGURE 1). The material 35 is illustrated as being a liquid but it is to be understood that the same may be a solid, a semisolid (paste) etc.

The outer pouch 12 is similarly formed of a sheet of material folded along a fold line 37 and heat sealed along opposite generally parallel edge portions 38, 39 by respective heat seals 40, 41 (FIGURE 1). At this time an edge portion 42 of the outer pouch 12 adjacent and generally parallel to the heat sealed edge 21 of the inner pouch 13 is open to define a mouth (unnumbered) through which the inner pouch 13 is inserted into the outer pouch 12. The inner pouch 13 may be inserted into the outer pouch 12 prior to, after or simultaneously with the introduction of another material or component 43 into the outer pouch 12 after which the outer pouch is heat sealed along the edge portion 42 by a heat seal 44. The material 43 is illustrated as being a solid which is adapted to be admixed with the liquid 35, but it is also to be understood that the material 43 may be a liquid or a semiliquid (paste), etc.

It is to be understood that the materials 35, 43 are to be combined or admixed to produce either a desired mixture or compound, or a desired reaction within the outer pouch 12 with the material 35 entering into the outer pouch 12 by the rupture of the inner pouch 13. It is also to be understood that the inner pouch 13 is ruptured while the outer pouch 12 remains whole. This is accomplished by a person manually grasping and squeezing the outer pouch 12 of the package in the manner graphically illustrated in FIGURE 4 of the drawing. Upon the application of manual pressure to the outer pouch 12 the forces thereof are transmitted through the material 43 and act against the interior of the walls 15, 16.

Due to the localizing means 25 these forces, generally referred to by the solid headed arrows F, are localized or concentrated at the heat seal 26 and, in particular, at the apex 27 thereof. Since the bond strength of the bond 32 between the wall portions 30', 31 is greater than the strength of material of the inner pouch 13, the inner pouch 13 ruptures along the edges (unnumbered) of the heat seal 26. In FIGURE 4 of the drawing, the wall portion 16 is illustrated being ruptured adjacent the edges (unnumbered) of the heat seal 26 to define a generally triangular-shaped opening (unnumbered) through which the material 35 is free to pass, as is indicated by the "unnumbered headed broken arrow in FIGURE 4 of the drawing. However, it is to be understood that the wall 15 can equally and alternatively rupture in the same manner.

After the materials 35, 43 have been admixed the outer pouch 12 can be ruptured in a conventional manner and the combined contents dispensed therefrom.

The outer pouch 12 is also of an appreciably larger volume than the inner pouch 13 and upon the application of manual forces thereto, the outer pouch 12 is relatively unstressed, as opposed to the higher stressing of the inner pouch 13. However, in any case it is the localizing means 25 which effects the rupture of the inner pouch 13 upon the application of pressure to the outer pouch 12, and it is to be particularly noted that the heat seal 26 in and of itself does not rupture or peel and it is the nonheat sealed material immediately adjacent the edges of the heat seal 26 which ruptures in the manner heretofore described.

The package 10 is preferably used for packaging foodstuffs which may include two mutually reactive materials or dehydrated foods and water, or the package may be used for packaging materials, such as adhesives wherein the catalyst or hardeners are packaged in the inner pouch and the outer pouch contains polyester or epoxy resins. Also, the package 10 may be utilized to form a cooling package which contains an anhydrous endothermic salt, such as ammonium nitrate and water, or heating pouches containing an anhydrous exothermic salt, such as calcium chloride and water. These, of course, are only a few of the many materials which may be packaged in the pouches 10.

As was heretofore noted, the localizing means 25 does not necessarily have to be formed by heat sealing the wall portions 30, 31 to one another to form the bond 32. A similar effect can be achieved by triangularly spot coating the sheet material with an adhesive prior to folding the sheet material along the fold line 14. After folding the sheet material along the fold line 14 the triangular coating of adhesive on either of the walls 15, 16 would contact and become bonded to the other wall, thereby forming localizing means corresponding to the heat sealed localizing means 25. In this latter construction it is only necessary for the bond effected by the adhesive coating to be appreciably greater than the rupture strength of the material forming the inner pouch.

A modification of the inner pouch 13 is illustrated in FIGURE 5 of the drawing which illustrates an end portion 52 of an inner pouch 53 which is identical to the inner pouch 13 except for the particular construction of means 55 for localizing forces in the manner heretofore described relative to the means 25 of the pouch 13. The localizing means 55 is a generally triangularly shaped heat seal 56 which progressively diminishes in size from a fold line 58 toward an opposite open end portion (unnumbered) of the pouch 53. The heat seal 56 terminates at an abrupt apex portion 57 which, as compared to the sharp apex portion 28 of the inner pouch 13, is gradually curved, as at 59. Due to the curvature of the apex portion 59 of the heat seal means 56, appreciably greater forces are required to rupture nonheat sealed material of the inner pouch 53 along edges 60, 61 of the means 55. Thus, by varying the particular configuration of the apex portion 57 (or 27) of the respective inner pouches 53, 13, more or less manual pressure will necessarily be applied to the outer pouch prior to the rupture of the inner pouch. Of course, the aperture or tear formed by the rupture of the inner pouch 53 in the manner heretofore described rclative to the operation of the two-compartment package 10 would correspond in outline to the edges 59 through 61 of the heat seal 56.

Another inner pouch constructed in accordance with this invention is illustrated in FIGURE 6 of the drawing, and is generally designated by the reference numeral 63. The inner pouch 63 is formed from two separate sheets of material which define generally opposed walls 64, 64 (only one of which is illustrated). The walls 64, 64 are joined by heat seals 65, 66 along opposite generally parallel edge portions 67, 68 respectively. A bottom end portion (or upper end portion) 70 of the inner pouch 63 is closed by a first heat seal 71 which is substantially of a narrow rectangular configuration. Thereafter another heat seal 72 is formed in the inner pouch 63 to define force localizing means 73 in the form of a generally triangular-shaped heat seal 74 having a relatively sharp apex portion 75. The heat seal or localizing means 73 is identical in function and purpose to the means 25, 55 heretofore described. Thus, the basic difference between the inner pouch 63 and the inner pouch 13 is the formation of the localizing means 73 at a nonfolded edge of the inner pouch 63 as compared to the formation of the localizing means 25 adjacent the fold 14 of the pouch 13. Otherwise, the pouch 63 is filled and subsequently closed by a seal opposite the seal 71, and thereafter packaged in the manner heretofore discussed relative to the two-compartment package of FIGURE 1 of the drawing.

Another novel inner pouch constructed in accordance with this invention is illustrated in FIGURE 7 of the drawing and is designated by the reference numeral 83. The inner pouch 83 is similar to the inner pouch 13 and it is formed by folding heat sealable material along a fold line 84 to bring opposite walls 85 (only one of which is illustrated) into opposed relationship. Longitudinal edges 86, 87 of the inner pouch 83 are provided with heat seals 88, 89 respectively. An end portion 90 of the inner pouch 83 opposite the fold line 84 is opened and defines a mouth through which suitable material is packaged into the interior of the pouch 83 after which this end portion is heat sealed closed (not shown).

Prior to packaging suitable material into the inner pouch 83, the same is provided with force localizing means 91, 92 in the form of heat seal means 93, 94 respectively along the respective longitudinal edges 86, 87. The heat seals 93, 94 are generally triangular in configuration and diminsh in size away from the respective edges 86, 87, and terminate at relatively sharp apex portions 95, 96 respectively.

The inner pouch 83 is operative in much the same manner as the inner pouches heretofore described except that upon the application of forces directly or indirectly against the pouch 83, the same will rupture at the unheat sealed portions of the pouch adjacent the apices of either (or both) of the heat seals 93, 94.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that novel and advantageous provisions have been made for carrying out the desired end. However, attention is again directed to the fact that additional variations may be made in this invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A container comprising inner and outer chamber means, and said inner chamber means including heat seal means for rupturing said inner chamber means upon the application of a force to said outer chamber means whereby materials adapted to be housed in said chamber means can be admixed.

2. The container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner chamber means is defined by wall means having opposed wall portions, said heat seal means is formed in the material of said opposed wall portions, and said heat seal means includes at least one heat sealed portion which progressively diminishes in size and terminates at a relatively abrupt corner portion.

3. The container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner chamber means is defined by wall means having opposed wall portions, said wall means includes opposite edges, said heat seal means includes at least one heat sealed portion formed in the material of said opposed wall portions, and said heat sealed portion being positioned adjacent one of said edges and diminishes in size away from said one edge.

4. The container as defined in claim 3 wherein said wall means includes a pair of side and end edge portions, and said one heat sealed portion is spaced from said side and end edge portions.

5. The container as defined in claim 3 wherein said wall means includes a pair of side and end edge portions, one of said edge portions terminating in a heat sealed edge, and said one heat sealed portion being an extension of said heat sealed edge.

6. The container as defined in claim 3 wherein said inner chamber means includes other heat seal means for rupturing said inner chamber means upon the application of a force to said outer chamber means.

7. The container as defined in claim 6 wherein said first and last-mentioned heat seal means are in generally opposed relationship.

8. A container comprising inner and outer chamber means, admixable material in said inner and outer chamber means, said inner chamber being constructed from rupturable material whereby upon the application of forces to said outer chamber means the forces are transmitted through the material in the outer chamber means and act against the inner chamber means to rupture the same incident to material admixing, and means for localizing the transmitted forces to a particular portion of the inner chamber means whereby the inner chamber means will rupture at said particular portion under the influence of said transmitted forces.

9. The container as defined in claim 8 wherein said rupturable material is of a predetermined strength, and said localizing means is of a strength greater than said predetermined strength whereby the inner chamber means will rupture at said particular portion in the absence of rupture elsewhere.

10. The container as defined in claim 9 wherein said localizing means includes a relatively sharp apex portion.

11. The container as defined in claim 8 wherein said rupturable material is of a predetermined strength, said localizing means is defined by a bond between wall portions of said inner chamber means, and the bond strength of said bond is greater than the predetermined strength of said material whereby the latter will rupture to the exclusion of the former under the influence of the transmitted forces.

12. The container as defined in claim 11 wherein said localizing means includes a relatively sharp apex portion.

13. An inner pouch particularly adapted to be assembled with an outer pouch for admixing materials in said pouches by the rupture of the inner pouch under the influence of manual pressure exerted against the outer pouch, said inner pouch comprising wall means defining a product chamber, means for localizing forces applied to an outer pouch within which the inner pouch is adapted to be assembled to a particular portion of the inner pouch wall means whereby the inner pouch wall means will rupture at said particular portion under the influence of transmitted forces, said inner pouch being constructed from rupturable material of a predetermined strength, said localizing means being defined by a bond between portions of said wall means, and the bond strength of said bond being greater than the predetermined strength of said material whereby the latter will rupture under the influence of a transmitted force.

14. The inner pouch as defined in claim 13 wherein said localizing means is a heat sealed portion of said pouch wall means.

15. The inner pouch as defined in claim 14 wherein said heat sealed portion is of a particular configuration and includes a portion progressively diminishing in size and terminates at a relatively abrupt apex.

16. The inner pouch as defined in claim 15 wherein said heat sealed portion is generally of a polygonal configuration.

17. The inner pouch as defined in claim 16 wherein 2,541,674 2/1951 Snyder 150.3

FOREIGN PATENTS 206,210 12/1956 Australia. 642,3 66 6/1962 Canada. 697,723 9/1953 Great Britain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Examiner.

I. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING INNER AND OUTER CHAMBER MEANS, AND SAID INNER CHAMBER MEANS INCLUDING HEAT SEAL MEANS FOR RUPTURING SAID INNER CHAMBER MEANS UPON THE APPLICATION OF A FORCE OF SAID OUTER CHAMBER MEANS WHEREBY MATERIALS ADAPTED TO BE HOUSED IN SAID CHAMBER MEANS CAN BE ADMIXED. 